Fix My Eyes
by HPtwilightfanatic
Summary: Freshman year at Half Blood University. There's a lot happening here, and Annabeth is finally just starting to feel comfortable here; like a real college student. Until one Percy Jackson, stumbles into her life and flips everything upside down. Percabeth, but other pairings and characters too! College AU. Title based off song by for King and Country.
1. The Shower Intruder

Reaching for her washcloth, bending awkwardly in the shower stall that was far too small for any regular human being, Annabeth attempted to lather herself in soap as the hard water rained down on her.

Usually, she would take her showers in the morning; it helped her wake up and be ready for the day. But her roommate, Thalia, a sophomore and self-proclaimed expert on campus life, had told her it would be a better use of her time to take showers at night.

"For some reason, nobody realizes that the showers are empty at night. Meanwhile, they all fight over them like animals in the morning," the girl had said, observing a tear in her Green Day shirt. At first sight, Thalia looked a bit intimidating, but after a few weeks at school, she and Annabeth had actually begun to get along. At least she'd made one friend so far.

Not that she'd had very many friends from her hometown. Mostly Luke, but he was a senior this year at Half Blood University, so she wouldn't be seeing him very much. There was Grover too, but he was in a different dormitory, and was already making new friends of his own. Clarisse La Rue had also come to Half Blood, but their relationship wasn't exactly that of a friendly one. Annabeth wasn't really very shy, she just liked being alone, working on all of the different blueprints that came to her mind rather than engage in frivolous social activities, which seemed plenty here on campus. At least in her point of view.

Softly, she began humming to herself, a tune she didn't recognize, but kept going with. She had to admit, she was getting used to the night shower thing, just as she was getting used to most things here.

"College life suits you," her father had said when he and her stepmother had come to visit the other day.

_It probably suits me only because now I'm out of the house, _she couldn't stop the bitter thought. Her dad and she had made their peace when she was a senior in high school, with all of her running away as a kid and the trouble with her mom and him…but they were still very wary of each other. Too aware; the house was filled with tension whenever she was there, and when she walked in, it felt like she was interrupting a TV show from the 1950s, where they were some happy, perfect family. And she was the odd one out.

Her humming had taken on a more demure tone, when suddenly the bathroom door flung open loudly, and footsteps slapped on the floor at a fast pace.

"What the-?" It was almost midnight. It wasn't unheard of if some student had finished their homework late and was just now taking a shower, but could they have some care for quiet hours?

The footsteps grew closer, and just as she was about to shush them, the curtain to her shower stall was pulled aside.

"What the-!" she exclaimed, breaking the rules for quiet hours as well, but how could she care for those when her own rules of privacy were being broken? The person did not startle at her outburst. They simply pressed in tighter, forcing her against the back wall of the shower and moving far too close for Annabeth's personal preference. As she quickly moved to cover her naked chest and other certain parts that were not meant for other's eyes, she noticed this person was fully dressed; from the ragged tennis shoes and jeans to the blue hoody.

Then her eyes met curious, alarmed green ones that were focused right on her gray ones. "Please, don't make a sound. She won't look in a running shower." The voice pleaded. A deep voice.

The intruder was a boy.

"What? Who the hell won't look in here? What the hell are you doing in here?" she demanded. He tried to explain, but before any words could come out, the door slammed open again.

"He can't have run in here. This is the girl's bathroom. Even that little jerk isn't that stupid," the new voice echoed in the bathroom.

_Speak of the devil, _Annabeth silently cursed. She recognized this voice. It was Clarisse's. So her intruder had messed with Clarisse the Beast. Even if anger and embarrassment were bubbling up in her belly, she still pitied the boy.

"Who's in this shower?" Another girl asked, rustling Annabeth's curtain. The intruder almost squeaked, and he pushed just a little closer to her. The cloth of his hoody was rubbing up against the arm that was covering her chest, and a blush was beginning to make an appearance on her cheeks, and she was sure it was not from the heat of the water.

Why should she save him? He had interrupted her shower! And this could technically be considered sexual assault according to campus rules. Annabeth was about to shove him out of the curtain and let Clarisse have him.

But looking up at those green eyes, a shade of green like the ocean she had never seen in human eyes before, something made up her mind. She couldn't let the poor idiot get caught in Clarisse's clutches; no one deserved that, even peeping toms who intruded on showers.

"I am, and I would appreciate it if you would let me shower in peace."

Clarisse groaned on the other side of the curtain. "Seriously, Wise Girl? You loner. Come on, looks like he isn't in here."

The retreating footsteps were a relief not only to Annabeth, but the boy's tense muscles relaxed, and he unconsciously leaned into her for a moment before he caught himself and pulled back. Not far enough for Annabeth's liking, as he was still in her shower stall.

"In case you missed it, I said I wanted to shower in peace." She reminded none too kindly, glaring up at him. Those ocean eyes of his were really quite captivating, but they would not distract her from his infraction. Panic was slowly growing inside her gut, as her mind finally caught up with what was happening.

She was naked. And this boy was still here, looking at her.

Though, granted, his eyes were still on hers. But that was no excuse.

Blinking rapidly, he finally moved, backing out of the shower and grinning at her, his eyes sparkling. He looked ridiculous, soaked to the bone and still fully clothed. "Thanks Wise Girl."

Not knowing how else to respond to someone who had just shared her shower, she reached out and shoved the curtain closed.

"Get outta here before I call the RA," was all she said in an angry mumble. The boy may have laughed slightly, but she couldn't be sure over the sound of the shower.

Annabeth stood there for a long time, long enough for the water to run cold and make goose bumps erupt all over her arms that were still in position to shield her chest from sight.

It was only her third week at school, and everything had actually been going smoothly. She'd fallen into norms, her own comfort zone. She felt like she was starting to belong, even though she didn't know very many people yet.

And then that just had to happen and throw everything out of whack.

What the hell?


	2. Small World

Annabeth was still in a state of shock when she returned to her dormitory, dripping wet with her hair tied up in her towel.

"And you claimed you took such quick showers. That was nearly half an hour, missy. That is not quick. At least by normal person standards," Thalia laughed, leaning back dangerously on her desk chair, she was so close to falling flat on her bottom.

"There was a guy in my shower."

For a moment, Thalia just stared at her. She was already in her pajamas, which like everything in her wardrobe, still consisted of band t-shirts that no one had ever heard of. This one was screaming Black Flag at Annabeth.

"What did you say?" Her roommate reached up as if to unclog her ear, like she hadn't heard right.

"There was a guy. A boy. In my shower." Annabeth was just now coming to terms with it, and she was trying to discover what the hell was wrong with her that she had acted so calmly throughout the ordeal.

Thalia, meanwhile, was hooting with laughter, tears coming to her eyes. "Man, and here I was putting you in the prude category!"

"It wasn't like that!" She hadn't actually thought about what it might sound like out loud. Now her roommate thought she brought boys to the shower for fun. "He just walked in! And I am not a prude!"

Gradually, her roommate's giggles stopped. Laughter still clung to her eyes, but she did her best not to smile. "Are you serious?"

"I'm telling you! I was taking a shower, and then this guy just walks right in like he owns the place," alright, that was a bit dramatic, Annabeth conceded. The intruder had definitely not acted like that, more like a small animal frightened by a pit bull. But now that the event was really hitting her, exaggeration was natural. "Clarisse was after him. So he used my stall as a hiding place."

"You are serious," Thalia stood up from her computer, walking toward Annabeth slowly. "Did he…?" Her words died out, but it was easy enough to understand what she was implying.

"No, nothing like that. That's not what I meant either."

Now the older girl's look of concern transformed to confusion. "So he was just in your shower?"

Annabeth nodded, heartbeat still pumping a bit wildly in her chest.

"What the hell?"

"My sentiments exactly."

"So you're just going to do nothing?" Her roommate sounded incredulous, though she seemed as lost as Annabeth did.

"Honestly, I don't even remember what he looked like," a lie, but Thalia didn't need to know that she could still see those green eyes, pleading as they stared down at her. In all truth, she really didn't want to remember that either, but she had no control over that. "And campus is big. I doubt I'll see him again."

"You'd be surprised how small this place can seem," Thalia muttered. She looked like she didn't really want to end this conversation, but she did slip her headphones on over her heavily pierced ears, returning to her latest composition. Annabeth wondered why she even used the things, as she could hear every word of "American Idiot" as it blasted and most likely damaged Thalia's ears, but she didn't say anything. Thalia was mostly a laid back person, but if someone decided to knock her music, she pounced like a jaguar, teeth bared and ready.

Slowly drying off and dressing in her pajamas, Annabeth's mind raced back and forth with different pieces of information. No, he hadn't looked anywhere at her except her face. But he'd just come right into her shower. No, he hadn't made a move on her at all. _ But he'd come into her shower! _Who just walks into a running shower? Even if Clarisse La Rue was after you!

She should have punched him. Hard. Punched that stupid grin and those sparkling eyes black and blue. She hoped she would never have to see him again, but after Thalia's words, Annabeth wasn't too sure. Well, if she did, she resolved to do just that; slug him right in the gut. He would regret that it was her shower he interrupted. Not that he should be doing that to anyone else.

Climbing up into her bed, she didn't even reach for her book, for she knew she wouldn't be able to focus on it. Her mind was already engaging in a battle for sleep versus her thoughts of the recent events.

-x-

"I hope you all studied over the weekend," Professor Dionysus announced from his chair. Usually, it was the students who looked the worse for wear the Monday morning after a particularly rowdy weekend, but the theater appreciation professor definitely looked the worst out of all of them.

"Like I had time! There was so many other things to do!" The kid sitting next to Annabeth, Leo, she recalled, complained quietly.

"Too much other homework?" Annabeth inquired, knowing what that felt like. She'd had an essay for her communications class to finish as well as studying for this test. To say the least, she hadn't gotten to sleep the night before at a very good hour.

"No, not homework…I was working on a project. Not school related," no blush was evident on his face, but she could hear the embarrassment in his voice.

He thought she might make fun of him, she realized. Annabeth could sympathize; many kids in her graduating class from high school had made some comments about all of the blueprint ideas she had carried around along with all of her school books. She would much rather have been working on those this weekend rather than schoolwork, but she also didn't want her grades to slump.

She wanted to say something, ensure that there was no way she would laugh at him for that, but Mr. D was already handing out tests to their row, giving the "no talking" warning to every person, ingraining it into their minds.

Annabeth was biting her lip in frustration over one of the essay questions (this hadn't even been on the study guide, Mr. D, she cursed), when the door slammed open.

"Sorry I'm late. Slept through my alarm," the voice announced to the class. Some giggles and rude comments were whispered among the students at the interruption, but Annabeth was not one of them. She had frozen, her pencil led breaking as she pressed it hard onto the page as a rush of déjà vu flowed over her.

So he interrupted classes as well as showers.

The green eyed and grinning face that had busted into her shower now stood tall at the front of the classroom, giving Mr. D his charming grin, waiting to be given his test.

How had she not realized before that he was in her class? The class was big, filling the whole lecture hall, but she still might have noticed him! Those eyes were sort of hard to miss!

"_You'd be surprised how small this place can seem,"_ Thalia's words chimed in her head, mocking her.

_Not this small,_ Annabeth shouted back, sinking low in her seat. She tried to shake some curls in front of her face, glaring down at her test.

"This is the third time you've been late to my class, Jensen."

"It's Jackson, sir."

_Jackson._ The intruder had a name now too. But was that a first or a last name? Why should she care? He was just some shower intruding delinquent.

"And that is true, but I'm not late on purpose," Jackson shook his hair out, that stupid grin coming to his face again. Annabeth sunk a little lower in her seat, earning herself a strange look from Leo out of the corner of his eye.

"Are you okay?" He asked, probably more referencing her sanity rather than her wellbeing.

She nodded, giving him a small smile, but then Jackson spoke again.

"You see my roommate turns my alarm clock off because I don't wake up to it. Then he doesn't bother waking me up. So it's really not my fault, Mr. D."

"Make all the excuses you want, Jackson. Last week it was karma, this week it's alarm clocks."

"I'm telling you though, just because I cursed the bus, it decided to stop right in front of me last week and I almost got run over-"

"Just sit down and take your test." Mr. D sighed, taking a long drink from his usual Diet Coke as he handed off the sheet of paper to the boy who was now grinning in triumph. "You're lucky I'm even letting you take it, Johnson."

"Jackson, sir."

"Whatever."

There were a few more giggles all around the classroom, but with a harsh look from Mr. D that could have made someone go mad, everyone quieted down, turning back to their tests.

Annabeth's mind was whirring; unfortunately not with thoughts and answers for the test. She tried to get her focus back, but it and her gaze kept wandering back to the shower intruder.

After more minutes than she would have liked had passed, she shook her head, rushing through the last half of the test. She just thanked any gods listening that she understood theater basics pretty well.

Jackson hadn't left yet, since he'd gotten in late and was still working on his test. The problem was, he had taken a seat right by the door. So she had to walk all the way down the lecture hall, past him to turn in her test, and then past him again in order to leave. Swearing under her breath, getting another look from Leo, though this one was amused, she stood slowly. Swinging her backpack onto her shoulders, she heaved a deep breath and began her way down the stairs. Mr. D was looking at her expectantly, as she was the only student up at the moment, but Annabeth's eyes were on Jackson. _Don't look up, don't look up,_ she silently willed to him as she grew closer to the back of his head.

She passed in front of him, holding her breath as she handed in her test. So far so good; the head of messy black hair was still bent towards his desk, his mechanical pencil stuck between his teeth.

"See you next week, Annabelle." Mr. D acknowledged.

On instinct, she whispered back, "It's Annabeth."

Then as if in slow motion, she saw Jackson's mouth turn up into a knowing smile, as Mr. D's stubbornness with names was something of a private joke among all of the students who had him. And his head tilted up.

_No! _She was half way to the door, there was nothing she could do. Even if she started running now, it was too late. His eyes came up from the paper last, sending her a grin.

At first, she stood frozen under his smile. Alarms were going off in her head, accompanied by every colorful curse word she could think of in every language she knew. But he just kept grinning at her. Was this some sort of joke?

Then like a slap in the face, the smile fell and his face paled.

Now he recognized her. It must have taken him a moment to realize who she was with her clothes on, Annabeth thought drily.

With no ceremony, she whirled on the spot, shooting straight for the door. Even when she was in the hallway, she didn't slow her pace.

"Someone's in a hurry. Did you even hear me yell for you back there?" Thalia was suddenly at her side, keeping up with her every stride, a crooked smirk on her face.

"I just saw the guy."

"What guy?"

"The shower intruder. He's in my theater appreciation class!"

"Oh gods."

"I know."

She didn't have to look at Thalia to feel her roommate's concern, but she wasn't sure she wanted it. Concern wasn't her primary emotion right now; her mind was a little bit more preoccupied with panic.

No more conversation occurred between the two of them as they made their way back to the dorm. Attempting to distract herself from her wild knot of thoughts that even she could hardly make sense of, (and that scared her), she took in all of the surroundings that she had grown accustomed to over her past few weeks here at Half Blood. All of the dormitories made a makeshift U shape on one end of campus, while all of the academic buildings took up the other side. Artemis Hall was the only all girls dorm, while Apollo was the only all boys, though they shared a lobby, which sort of defeated the purpose of keeping genders separate. The rest of the dorms were co-ed. Annabeth hadn't found a reason not to like Athena Hall yet, except maybe for the fact that there could be someone lurking, waiting to jump in on your shower. But besides that, the hall seemed great.

Back in the room, Annabeth collapsed at her desk, throwing her backpack to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Usually the words were so casual, not really meant to find out real information. But Thalia's voice was genuine, and her brow was creased with worry.

"Yeah," which wasn't too far from the truth. Sure, her heart was still pumping doses of adrenaline into her system, causing her to shake slightly. But she didn't feel to out of sorts. _Maybe I should, _but there was no feeling like that in her; at least that she could find.

Thalia did not look one bit convinced, but Annabeth waved her off, making some excuse about needing to start homework.

The mention of homework got Thalia's mind off of the present situation. "Ugh, I swear you are the only student here who does their homework right away."

"Well, we are at _school_, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to study. College is meant for partying and meeting cute guys! Right?" Thalia gushed, doing a spot-on imitation of the girl in the neighboring room, Drew Tanaka.

The two laughed, becoming so uproarious that their RA, Silena Beauregard, who roomed right across from them, came barging in.

"Sounds like you two are having a fun time," she commented, leaning in through the doorway.

The two sobered up pretty quickly. Silena wasn't exactly strict, (and she definitely wasn't the biggest fan of Drew either), but their chosen topic of laughter wasn't necessarily something she needed to know. She was still the RA.

"Oh yeah," Annabeth nodded.

A figure came up behind Silena, waving at the two girls.

"Hey Beckendorf," Thalia acknowledged. She and Annabeth exchanged a look that said _Looks like Silena was having a fun time of her own,_ and once again had to restrain themselves from laughing once again.

With a blush, Silena ushered herself and Charlie Beckendorf back into her own dormitory, closing the door behind her.

"They're cute."

Thalia swiveled her head to Annabeth. "I wouldn't have expected that from you."

"What, you think I don't like relationships?"

"Well, you are a prude," Thalia teased, throwing one of the pillows from her futon at the blonde's head.

"Shut up," Annabeth muttered, a grin still on her face.

"Do your homework."

"Yes, mom." Sticking her tongue out at Thalia's back, Annabeth pulled out her planner, looking over all of the assignments she had. There was a paper for theater appreciation, (though Annabeth was more keen on not thinking about that class right now), and a speech needed to be prepared for her communications class by next Tuesday. She also still needed to contact Hazel Levesque for their group project in her history class.

Now, Annabeth had never been much of a procrastinator. But looking at her planner made her want to curl up under her blankets with a book and pretend she had no classes to worry about.

"When do you want to go get dinner?" Thalia broke the comfortable silence.

"Didn't you just eat lunch? And you're already thinking about the next meal?"

"I'm a bottomless pit who loves her cheeseburgers. Sue me."

"I will. For everything you've got. I mean, I've got to pay my loans somehow, right?"

More laughter was shared between the girls. Annabeth had to admit, she liked her roommate. She'd heard some horror stories from Luke, who had roomed with a kid named Connor Stoll. The kid had been a trouble maker, and he'd had a twin who was much of the same. Luke swore he had lost some of his belongings that had never even left his room, though the Stoll brothers had never fessed up. His freshman year hadn't really been too calm.

"Oh shit," Annabeth turned to face Thalia at the sudden outburst.

"What?"

"I promised my brother I would go to dinner with him tonight. Do you mind if he joins us?"

Thalia's little brother, Jason, wasn't actually too little. The two were only a year apart, so he was in Annabeth's year at Half Blood. At first, Annabeth had thought the two were just good friends, as they looked nothing alike. Save their eyes, Jason was tall, lean, and blond. Thalia was shorter, with dark hair and paler skin than her brother. Annabeth hadn't exactly spent too much time with Jason, but from what she'd seen of him, he seemed nice.

"No, that's fine. I think it's nice he still wants to have dinner with you even when you guys are at school."

Thalia scoffed. "I'm not so sure he wants to. It's not like we don't get along, but the kid's shy. He doesn't look like he would be, but he's always had some trouble talking to people."

Annabeth could understand that.

"Though he has made some friends in his hall. He's in Apollo this year."

"That's good."

"Yeah. I think they're his neighbors. Frank and Percy? I'm pretty sure that's their names. They might join us too."

"Cool," dinner was turning out to be a party. Not that Annabeth minded too much. She needed to meet new people. If her old friend Grover, whom she'd been friends with since elementary school, was making new friends, then she could too.

Time and homework sheets flew by until the sun was already on its way down, and Thalia shook her shoulder.

"Time for grub!" Only Thalia could get excited about The Pavilion Dining Hall's food. There were rumors that the food was provided by the same people who fed the inmates at Tartarus Prison, but Annabeth liked to hope not.

Jason met them at the door of Athena Hall, followed by two boys. One of whom, Annabeth recognized.

"Leo!"

"Hey," the boy waved, sending her a big smile. He probably still thought she was crazy, but there wasn't much Annabeth could do about that anymore.

"So you've met my roommate?" Jason commented, giving his sister a quick hug. "This is our neighbor, Frank."

Frank, a tall, burly Asian boy waved, eyes flicking between the two girls quickly before he glanced down at his phone, thumbs typing a long message.

"What about your other friend?"

"Percy couldn't make it. He had to make up something for a professor."

"It's the third week of school, and he's already got to make up something? Sheesh."

"Well, that's Percy for you. He's already got someone out for his guts here. I think she's in your dorm too."

"He must be a real charmer. You coming, Annabeth?"

Annabeth had become a little distracted by the impish grin that Leo was giving her the whole time the siblings talked. Then he had leaned over to whisper something to Frank, who then had glanced up at her as well, though he quickly looked down at his phone again.

Thalia linked arms with her, tugging her along with the boys as they made their way to the Pavilion, but Annabeth kept sneaking glances towards Leo and Frank?

What was that all about?


	3. Laundry Day

"I wouldn't do that," Thalia advised without looking away from her computer. She was making another one of her music mixes, and couldn't be bothered to do any of her assignments. Annabeth often wondered when she did do her homework, since she lived with her and never saw her do any of it, but she let the subject be.

"Wouldn't do what?" She asked, slightly exasperated. With homework, readings, and blueprints she still wanted to get to by the end of the night, laundry was the last thing she wanted to be doing. But here she was, piling all of her dirty clothes into the fold out basket that had been recommended to her by her stepmother. The thing actually worked pretty well, it was probably just the fact that it had been her stepmother's idea that made her resent it.

"Don't do your laundry right now. Everyone will be down there fighting to the death for a free washing machine," she sounded so unworried, separated from all of this. She's only a sophomore, Annabeth thought, but she acts like she knows everything.

"Well when am I supposed to do it? I'm running out of underwear!"

"Don't your classes end at eleven tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Do it then. I promise you, no one will be there. And if someone is there, I give you permission to slap me."

Shoving her hamper back into the closet, Annabeth gave a great sigh. She didn't really want to keep putting off laundry, as she had worn her Half Blood University sweatshirt twice this week already, but tomorrow could work for laundry. Even though she had been planning to meet Luke for lunch tomorrow, she would just have to reschedule. It wasn't like he had never done that to her.

"Alright. And for the record, I wouldn't slap you."

"I'm touched," Thalia actually did glance away from her screen for a moment, a light smile on her face.

Sitting down at her desk, Annabeth opened her laptop and logged onto her email. She was hoping for nothing from her professors to pop up, especially as Mr. D had taken a liking to sending random assignments out through email rather than telling anybody about them in class. She and Leo had spent plenty of dinner the other night complaining about it.

"_I think he writes his lesson plans drunk," Leo had hooted, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes._

"_They aren't that bad. I'll admit he's a little disorganized," Leo gave her a skeptical look._

"_And rude," he raised an eyebrow, waiting._

"_Okay, he's a bad teacher."_

"_And we have a winner. At least he grades easy though."_

_Thalia and Jason had zoned out of the conversation a while back, after Jason had mentioned a text message he had received from their mother. Annabeth hadn't known Thalia for very long, but there had been snippets of conversation before that implied a rocky relationship with her mother, which Annabeth could relate to. _

_Frank didn't say much the whole meal. Annabeth had tried engaging him in conversation, but he had gotten a sort of frightened look in his eyes. His voice had come out smooth enough._

"_Do you like your roommate, Frank?"_

"_Yeah, Percy's great," He shrugged, not really leaving any open conversation._

"_Yeah, Percy is great," Leo reiterated, sending another impish grin toward Annabeth. "He's kind of a weirdo, but aren't we all?"_

_Annabeth still couldn't quite figure out why Leo would smirk at her at some points, but she decided to ignore it._

The group of them had made plans to go to dinner again (_"Maybe Percy will be able to come next time," Leo had looked at her when he spoke. Annabeth had wanted to slug him, but what reason would she have for that?_), but evenings had been filled with study groups, group projects, and plain old homework.

After signing in, it was a pleasant surprise when no hogwash assignment from her Theater Appreciation professor was in her inbox, but the University News Letter was. Usually, Annabeth wouldn't read them but she clicked it anyway, happily procrastinating on her homework just a little bit longer now that she had actually sat down to complete it, and scrolled.

Half way down the page, the words "CAPTURE THE FLAG" were written in a bright, bold font, immediately catching her eyes.

"Hey, Thalia."

Her roommate simply made a grunting noise in response.

"What's the Capture the Flag thing?"

The noise of Thalia's chair rattling on the tile made Annabeth whirl in her seat, watching her roommate carefully.

"When is it?"

"What's the big deal?"

"The big deal? Annabeth, it's campus tradition! Some schools love their football games. For us? It's Capture the Flag. I'm not even about all that school spirit and tradition crap, but this," Thalia's eyes grew bright and she wasn't looking at anything in particular. "This is the real deal. It's a campus-wide game, anyone can play. Even some alumni come back for it. It's that big. One time, the game went on for three days, though I wasn't there and some people say that it didn't really happen, but that's the legend."

Annabeth hadn't seen Thalia get excited for anything like this. Well, except when she'd found the Blink-182 CD she'd thought one of the kids on move in day had stolen from her.

"So we're going to go?"

"Hell yes. And you're going to be on my team," The glow in Thalia's blue eyes was getting a little unnerving, as she now shifted her gaze to Annabeth. "Oh, the upperclassmen won't even have seen you coming. Is it this Friday?"

Checking the email for confirmation, Annabeth only nodded, a smile of her own starting to form. _Capture the Flag…sounds interesting, _she mused to herself. She was good at strategy. At first, she hadn't known what to think of the bright words in the email, but now her stomach was turning in excitement, anxious for Friday to come.

But before Friday would even think about coming, she had to wait for Thursday, which was now turning out to be her laundry day.

-x-

As much as Annabeth begrudged Thalia's acting like she was an expert on campus life, she was right: the laundry room of Athena Hall was completely empty at noon.

Even with signs that requested the washing machine doors stay open when not in use to prevent mildew growth, the whole room reeked of it. Setting her hamper down on top of one of the washers, Annabeth tried to breathe as shallowly as possible so she wouldn't be tempted to gag on the stench.

At least she knew how to do laundry. She had had a good laugh over Luke's story from his freshman year: he'd had to ask a girl who was in the laundry room with him how to sort his laundry, and how much detergent to put in, how to set the washer…it had been quite the embarrassing escapade for him.

After throwing everything into the washer and pressing the button labeled "Whites", she inserted her five quarters, hearing the washing machine lock as her money was processed, and waited.

But nothing happened.

"Are you serious?" she muttered to herself, checking that she had done everything right. She even attempted to open the washer again, knowing it wouldn't even budge. (Or it would if she felt like breaking the machine and paying Athena for it, but she wasn't too keen on that).

With a frustrated groan and a harshly whispered "Damn it!" Annabeth kicked the stubborn machine.

"Please," she implored to it. Maybe it would succumb to sweet-talking, "I'll give you another quarter to eat."

No such luck.

"You piece of shit," she finally shouted. No one was down here anyway. She backed away from the machine, giving it the full power of her glare, calling down all curses from any laundry gods there might be.

Then her vision was interrupted by someone's back. The sound of cracking knuckles came, then one fist banged on the top of the machine while one pushed the "Whites" button, and a small kick was given to the bottom right corner of the machine.

Like a miracle, the wretched thing started to fill with water.

"These things are a bit picky. You need to know the right way to treat them, or they won't do anything for you."

He finally turned around, and Annabeth had to tilt her head up as he was nearly a head taller than her.

And there was Jackson the Shower Intruder. Maybe she'd have to slap Thalia after all.

His face mirrored the expression that had come over him in Theater Appreciation, his sea green eyes widening and pallor blanching.

"You!"

"Me," he conceded, though his voice was a lot more confident than he looked.

She'd resolved to punch him, but all her fists did were curl up tightly at her sides. There were many things she'd like to say to him floating around in her head, but none of them seemed able to reach her lips so she could yell them in his face.

To her self-loathing however, she simply turned around and made to grab her laundry basket and escape.

"I'm sorry," his voice stopped her, and her teeth clenched.

"I could report you for sexual harassment," she responded, not even acknowledging his apology.

Jackson looked genuinely surprised, as if he might not have thought of that particular consequence to his actions.

"I-I know. That's why I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight, and I just acted before really thinking about what I was doing, and-" he went on, cheeks changing drastically from pale to a deep pink, and a hand kept tugging at his messy hair, which stuck up wildly now that it wasn't slicked wet against his head.

Annabeth knew that right about now was her cue to scream, throw punches, and do some serious damage. But looking at him, really looking at him, something in her resolved that the poor kid looked honest. Not to mention his eyes, which were flicking everywhere around the room besides at her, were starting to look suspiciously wet.

"Don't worry about it. Just don't make a habit of it," she commented coldly, turning away from him again.

Her washer still had thirty minutes left to finish the cycle, and Expert Thalia had warned her not to leave the laundry room, because, as she had said, "People are assholes and will take your clothes out when your turn your back."

But now that Jackson was here…

_Maybe he'll leave, and I won't have to leave my clothes._

But Jackson just stood there. She could feel his stare on her, uncomfortably long and close. It didn't seem like he was leaving, much less doing his laundry, anytime soon.

"Did you just make a sarcastic comment about a potential sexual harassment charge?"

She hadn't expected any more words out of the boy, (especially those ones), so she turned back to him again with some surprise.

"Not really. I'm serious, don't do it to anybody else. Just because I'm not going to report you doesn't mean no one else will."

"I'm not like that."

"Like what?"

"I don't usually walk in on showers."

"Good for you."

"Gods, you really are a Wise Girl, aren't you?"

Annabeth froze at the nickname Clarisse had coined for her back in grade school. She had called her that during the incident, she remembered, but why the hell did Jackson remember it?

"Don't call me that."

"Why, because you are one?"

"You're really pushing it, Shower Boy."

"Shower Boy? That's the best you can do?"

She couldn't figure this kid out. Not even minutes ago, he had been almost to tears apologizing. Now he had the nerve to _smirk _at her.

"No," she replied automatically, racking her brain. His left eyebrow lifted in interest, and his arms crossed lazily over his chest.

"Let me know when you think of one, Wise Girl. Or maybe not so wise?"

"You're a shit."

"That's a little better."

With a groan, not unlike the one the washing machine had dragged out of her, Annabeth turned to leave. But Jackson blocked the door with a side-step.

"I'm sorry," and now he was apologizing again. "Sarcasm is a defense mechanism," he held his hands up in a sort of surrender.

What went on in this kid's head?

"A defense mechanism?"

"Yeah. You should see yourself. You're pretty fearsome when you're angry."

Apparently, along with a brain made of seaweed, he also had no filter.

Resigning herself to sitting down again, she gave him a stink eye as he finally got to the task of his own laundry.

"I'm not angry," that was a bit of a fib. Something was churning and boiling in her stomach that felt a lot like anger, but there wasn't a name she could think to place on it.

He scoffed, laughing a little. She didn't even know the guy that well, but she was finding it hard to keep her thoughts straight.

"You could have fooled me. It was like the wrath of the gods were coiled up in one human being."

He smiled sideways at her as he threw shirts without looking into the washer. Unlike Luke, he seemed to know what he was doing. He flawlessly fixed the machine to the right settings, poured the right amount of detergent in without measuring, did his little trick and his machine was whirring alongside hers.

For a while, the washing machines were the only source of noise in the room, and Annabeth had found her fingernails extremely interesting for some reason. Jackson coughed a few times. He pulled a pen from his pocket that he started clicking nonstop, out of nervousness or habit, Annabeth had no idea, but it was driving her out of her mind.

"What did you do to Clarisse anyway?"

Jackson stopped the clicking and stared at her for a moment, another smile lighting his green eyes. He laughed uneasily before he spoke.

"It's really stupid, actually."

"Tell me," she offered, leaning back in her chair. "I mean, you did barge in on my shower for it, so I think I deserve to know."

Why she was making small talk with him, she had no idea. But it seemed to be a better option than sitting awkwardly and listening to that gods forsaken pen of his.

"One minute you're threatening to report me, and the next demanding information," he shook his head at her, though that easy smile of his was still on his face. "Okay. You know the Orientation Games they had the first week of school?"

Annabeth nodded. She had gone only because it was mandatory, but it had ended up being pretty fun. The Orientation Games had different events that the freshman could sign up for, and she had ended up doing pretty well in the archery contest, drawing contest, and surprisingly the strawberry picking contest.

"Well, there was the Red Rover game in the lake. And Clarisse was on the opposite team. She was poking fun at all of us the whole time, but especially me for some reason. Hell, we didn't even know each other, it was only the third day."

He jumped off of the laundry machine he'd been sitting on, getting involved in the story he was telling her. He mimicked standing ready for Red Rover, glancing at her again.

"Then she came running directly at me, charging like a bull. But when she got close, she may have…slipped. And she lost the game for her team."

Against her will, Annabeth cracked a smile. "She's mad at you because she fell in the water?"

"No, she's mad at me because I tripped her."

He said it so nonchalantly, Annabeth almost didn't catch it. But when he just kept looking at her, face complete with self-satisfied grin on his lips, she burst out laughing.

"You," was all she could get out for a minute, as the laughing as taking a good amount of her breath. "You tripped her? To win at a game?"

Jackson shrugged. "She was being a bully."

"Wow," Annabeth shook her head, a teeny bit impressed with the boy she should have been angry with. Clarisse was a tough cookie. And if he had tripped her, and was now enduring her everlasting hatred, that earned some respect.

"So am I forgiven for barging in on you?" The green eyes still looked a little wary at this, though his mouth was still stretched wide in a smile.

With the conversation heading in a different direction other than showers, Annabeth had found him pretty easy to talk to. But now that he'd brought it up again, he mind was detoured back to the churning in her stomach.

"I may have to think about that for a bit, Jackson."

"Percy."

"What?"

"Jackson's my last name. My name is Percy."


	4. Capture the Flag

"Your name is Percy?"

This wasn't happening. He couldn't possibly be the same person that-

"Yeah. So?"

Annabeth let out a strangled groan and clutched a hand in her curls.

"This is a joke."

"How is my name a joke?"

"Because! You're Percy! Not many people are named Percy but you are and that means-ugh!"

Jackson-no, _Percy_- was looking strangely at her. He had his hands up, as if he was getting ready to fight off some sort of monster. Annabeth didn't quite blame him; she certainly did feel like letting all of this confused anger out at him. However, she really felt like kicking herself more than him.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we were going to go to dinner."

"What?"

"The other night. You know Jason. And Frank and Leo," she sighed, still not quite believing that two separate people in her mind had just melded into one standing right before her.

"Wait, you know my friends?"

Then it dawned on her.

"You live in Apollo!"

"How do you know all of this about me?"

"Why are you using our laundry room?"

"Ours are all out of order! Now how do you know all of this?"

"You apparently like invading laundry rooms as well as showers."

Now a frown flitted over his forehead.

"I thought we were past that."

"Past that? You saw me naked!"

His cheeks flushed a dark red and he jumped away from her as if she had bitten him.

"I apologized! And I did not!" Probably the entire hall of Athena had heard him shout. "I-I mean I did, but I didn't. You didn't have any clothes on, but I wasn't _looking_ at you."

Annabeth knew this very well, but it made her feel better to watch him stutter. She made to grab her basket again and leave him alone with the raging machines, but he grabbed the basket as well, his eyes filled with challenge across from her.

"Let go."

"I'm sorry, am I invading your space? I seem to have made a habit of it, since you keep accusing me of it even after I apologize."

"You're such a Seaweed Brain."

"That's not very creative."

"I disagree. Now let go!" She said through clenched teeth.

What she meant to do was tug the hamper out of his grasp, but he had too tight a grip on it. And with the hamper being so flimsy, with the added ability to fold up, that's exactly what it did.

It folded with a snap, and they were in the same position they had been when he had pushed his way into her shower. Her arms had somewhat folded over her own chest, still gripping her hamper. And he was there, bracing his hands on the table behind her, but crushing into her front and making the small of her back dig into the edge of the counter.

"I'm sorry," Jackson-_Percy,_ Annabeth corrected herself again-started as panic filled his eyes.

"Get off me," she shoved him, causing him to stumble back, almost into the row of laundry machines.

They watched each other with guarded looks for a long moment, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Annabeth swiped up her now conveniently folded hamper and stalked out of the laundry room.

Thalia had told her not to leave her clothes untended, but she needed to get out of there.

-x-

On Friday morning, campus was buzzing.

Everyone was fidgety in class, hardly paying attention to lectures and barely jotting notes down. Capture the Flag wouldn't start for another couple hours, with the gathering beforehand on Half Blood Hill at seven in the evening. But that didn't seem to matter to anyone.

Everywhere she went, Annabeth overheard plans for the approaching night.

In the library, some boys in the stacks had been muttering to each other.

"What about Travis?"

"If we have Travis on our team, we've got to have Connor. Those two are inseparable."

"They're a dangerous duo too. Someone call them."

Then behind her in her communications class.

"Katie already has a team."

"But she's always on our team! Which hall is she siding with this time?"

"Apollo."

An angry grunt came at that, "Instead of Artemis? It's because Travis is on that team. She claims she hates him so much, and yet…"

Lunch was the worst.

"Beckendorf! You ready for tonight!"

"Hell yeah. I've asked Silena to be on our team."

"That other RA you have a crush on? Dude, what will that bring to the team?"

"Hey, don't knock her. She's…she's cool."

"Only because you like her."

"Shut up."

At the table across from Annabeth-who may have felt a little shame sitting by herself, as Thalia had a class at noon, so hadn't been able to join her for a meal-was Clarisse.

"I don't care if we're underclassmen. We will be the victors."

"I heard the upperclassmen don't even let us do anything."

"Doesn't matter. We will bring glory to the Apollo Team."

Clarisse held a tough expression on her face, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. She looked pretty fearsome. Annabeth could have sworn her grilled chicken screamed a little bit when she stabbed it with her fork.

Annabeth, on the other hand, didn't really have anyone to plan with. Thalia had gone off on a tangent the night she'd received the email, but none of it had made sense to her, so she had taken to actually reading the email.

Apparently, two different residence halls were chosen for each game to oppose each other. For instance, this first game had penned Apollo against Artemis. Then it was every individual student's purpose to choose a hall to make an alliance with, though most often these alliances were done in large groups of people, even if whole dormitories.

"We're allying with Artemis Hall, no doubt about it." Thalia had reported to her last night. "Apollo is…" she ran a hand through her spiky hair, deliberating this prospect. Then she just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

If alliances weren't made by the meeting on Half Blood Hill, then the student was assigned to one. Which for some reason, was dreaded, so usually everyone had their alliances.

Professors volunteered and patrolled the campus during the game, to watch for foul play and report anything if need be, but it was said even they got pretty involved in the workings of the game.

The insides of buildings were off limits. The Big House, or that was what everybody called the Dean's office, was off limits. The woods that bordered the campus and went up into the bluffs was free range. No cars could be used as hiding places, as the flag was supposed to remain in one position, and that position once decided could not be changed. The flag had to be visible at all times. The game would go on as long as it would take for a flag to be successfully captured by the opposing team.

It was all a little overwhelming, but exciting nonetheless.

Thalia was already high off of adrenaline and there were still two hours to go. It was a wonder she wasn't making like a bouncy ball and hitting the walls at different angles.

However, Annabeth was a little bit distracted. She was folding her laundry while Thalia the Bouncy Ball was trying to keep it contained. While folding, she was doing her best to keep any thoughts about the day before in the laundry room from moving their way into her mind, but it wasn't working very well. When she had gone down to retrieve her laundry, she had dreaded running into Percy again, but he had gone, as well as his laundry. Just in case, she had quickly stashed her clothes in the dryer and run back up. Even though she had evaded him in the laundry room, she did still have class with him.

But Percy hadn't been in Theater Appreciation that morning. She hated that she had noticed. He would most likely be playing Capture the Flag tonight for the Apollo team. She still wanted to play the game, was looking forward to it, but she wasn't too keen on running into him.

"Are you just going to stare at your underwear all day?" Her roommate's face took over her zoned out vision, and Thalia was smirking.

"Haha," Annabeth answered sarcastically, "I'm just a little bit distracted."

"Obviously. I wonder if that's a symptom I should be watching for. 'Stares at underwear'…what would that mean now?"

"I would throw something at you, but my clothes are the only things close enough, and they're clean."

"How lucky for me."

With folding and trying to finish some homework, ("Who does homework on a Friday night? Seriously, Annabeth!"), time flew by pretty quickly, and it wasn't long until the red numbers on the digital clock read 6:30.

"Hurry up! We're going to be late!" Thalia squealed.

Thalia, who never seemed to be on time for any of her classes, trying to rush Annabeth along? She might have laughed, but her roommate was already dragging her out of the dormitory, locking up, and tugging her down the stairs.

People were everywhere on Half Blood Hill, screaming excitedly, whispering conspiratorially, while most freshman were standing awkwardly and glancing around for people to talk to. Annabeth caught sight of her lab partner, Hazel, but before she could stop and greet her, Thalia had already pulled her towards where the Artemis team was gathering.

Most of the team was made up of girls, and the majority of them were upperclassmen. One, who was standing on a boulder above everyone, made Thalia roll her eyes. When Annabeth sent her a questioning glance, she answered.

"Zoe Nightshade. Senior. She's impossible."

She looked pretty impossible; foreboding. She seemed to be the elected team captain for the night.

"Come closer, Team Artemis!" she waved for them, and the group pushed and shoved their ways as close as they could get to her.

"I have a plan for how we'll set up the troops," she was being way too official in Annabeth's perspective, but being a senior, she might want to win as many games as was possibly before graduating. "But are there any ideas for where we should hide the flag?"

Just as students were beginning to raise their hands with thoughts, the Dean of Students, George Chiron spoke into a megaphone he held up to his mouth.

"Good evening students! This is a fantastic turn out for Capture the Flag. So who is ready to play?"

His question was answered with a deafening cheer.

"Good, good. However, it is protocol to cover the rules before we play. So, without further ado: foul play will not be accepted. Punishments are severe for any kind we hear of. All buildings and vehicles are off limits. Otherwise, the grounds are available to all. Your flag must be visible. The border will be the stream that goes down the middle of campus; Artemis, you take the east, Apollo, the west."

Chiron had kind eyes, but his gaze was hard as he searched the crowd of students. "I want good sportsmanship here at Half Blood. Now split up your teams, hide your flags, create your strategy, and you will hear the megaphone sound when the game has begun at 7:30."

He saluted them all, and everyone started speaking at once as they moved in packs to their respective sides of campus.

"This is so exciting!" a girl who ended up beside Annabeth and Thalia smiled over at them. The boy next to her was tall, blond, with a little scar on his lip and-

"Jason?" Thalia shrieked, though she looked as if she might burst into laughter in a moment's time.

Her brother blushed, and Annabeth noticed his hand was laced with the girl who had spoken before.

"What are you doing here? Are you spying?"

"Nope! He's on our team!" the girl smiled again, and Annabeth couldn't help smiling with her. She looked pretty innocent at first, but there was definitely a glimmer of deviousness in her eyes.

"But you live in Apollo! Won't your hall see that as betrayal?"

Jason shrugged, and he glanced down at the girl. "Not so much. I don't really know anybody else in my hall. And Piper asked me to be on her team before the halls were even assigned against each other."

"And I sided with Artemis." The girl, Piper winked at the other girls.

"What about your friends?" Thalia demanded, though her eyes said she was gleeful at her brother being on her team rather than on the opposing team.

"That was simple enough," Piper answered instead. "They came too."

Annabeth's gut twisted even before Leo and Frank poked their heads around Jason, Leo waving furiously.

And of course, Percy was with them.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"We just can't stop meeting like this, can we?"

"Like what? With you sneaking up on me all the time?"

"That was hardly sneaking!" Percy said defensively, though he had come up from behind her.

The others around them began watching with interest, small smiles or confused brows bending on their faces.

"How do you two know each other?" Jason asked, glancing between the two of them.

"We really don't," Annabeth answered before Percy could say anything. He frowned down at her a little bit.

"I thought we did."

"Maybe a little bit better than I want to," she smiled sweetly at him, before whipping back around to face the front where the mob of Artemis teammates were moving.

"Wow," Piper commented, eyebrows raised. "Seems like you've got someone out for your guts besides Clarisse, Percy."

Percy laughed behind her, but Annabeth didn't turn around again. Thalia was trying to get her attention, but she kept her eyes stubbornly straight ahead.

"Alright, gather 'round!" Zoe called from somewhere up ahead. Now that she wasn't on a boulder, she wasn't visible, but her volume made up for that. "We've decided to put our flag in the staff parking lot. There is a gazebo next to it, and that's where we'll set camp. Any objections?"

Annabeth had to admit it was a good place. It was still visible in the streetlights, but shadows would help keep it covered. No one spoke up, so Zoe took that as agreement.

"Alright then. Juniors, I want you on forest duty. Don't let anyone sneak up on us," small groups here and there moved out toward the bluff.

"Fellow seniors, we're going to be the scouts for the flag, and once we've found it, we'll make the first charge," cheers and high-fives were exchanged at that.

"Sophomores and freshmen, you will stay here and guard the flag. It's an important job, so take it seriously."

"Seriously? There's so many of us! We don't need that many guarding the flag!" Annabeth complained quietly, earning a grim nod form Thalia.

"Let's get in position! Be ready and vigilant!"

All of the people who had places to be ran swiftly back into the dark, flanking Zoe, who almost naturally took the lead.

"This is bull!" Annabeth said louder, now that the upperclassmen had vanished. There were mutterings of agreement around her from multiple people, but they resigned themselves to making a makeshift circle around the flag.

"Patience, young grasshopper," Thalia cooed, "There will be time to show your worth."

Annabeth was about to say something else, (quite a few things actually), but the parking lot had fallen silent. Apparently, all of the underclassmen were taking Zoe's words seriously, as she'd ordered them to.

Guarding the flag, as would be expected, turned out to be a very boring job. Once in a while, there was a noise that came from the dark around them, but it always turned out to be a fallen leaf, or one of the pesky squirrels that could be found in every corner of campus.

Someone had started whistling, and from her peripheral vision, Annabeth saw it was Percy, and she rolled her eyes. Why couldn't he have been on the Apollo Team, like he was supposed to be? It wasn't necessarily against the rules for people to side with a different hall than their own, but it was pretty unheard of.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, as Annabeth had been a bit distracted, Travis and Connor Stoll stood in front of them, as if they'd materialized out of the concrete.

"What the-" Thalia cursed terribly, getting into a defensive stance.

"No worries, Grace. We're just the scouts. Though we'll be back," one of them said with an evil grin. No one could really tell them apart.

"Just try to get through us," Piper spoke up, holding her own fearsome glare.

With another evil grin, the brothers slid back into the dark.

"So that's how they got away with all of Luke's stuff," Annabeth muttered.

"What?" Leo quirked an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't about to elaborate on Luke's freshman year experiences now. The adrenaline was back in her system, and she needed to do something. Anything.

"We can't let them win," she addressed all of the underclassmen around the flag, stepping forward and turning to face them.

"That's not our job," someone whispered from the back.

"It is now. Our team doesn't know that the Stolls have the location of our flag. So we've got to get theirs before they can get people from their team to act."

"What are you suggesting we do?" Jason asked, looking interested.

"We're going to capture the flag," she smiled, adrenaline singing in her veins with excitement.

But she didn't get the response she had been expecting.

"Really? Just because Zoe told you to stay here, you're all going to do so?"

No one answered her. Shifty glances were sent all over, the group of them all waiting for someone else to make the first step forward. Even Thalia was looking a little wary.

"Fine. Then I'll go by myself."

She had already turned on her heel, ready to run, when a voice finally answered.

"No you won't."

Something in her still wanted to glare or roll her eyes at Percy, but as he stepped up beside her, green eyes squinting in a smile, she couldn't bring herself to be angry.

"You two are going to get yourself killed."

The student who spoke did not mean it as a literal sense, (Annabeth hoped), but it sent a small sliver of worry through her mind.

But Percy responded without hesitation before he sprinted off.

"Don't worry. I'm usually about to die. Just ask Annabeth here."

Annabeth had to recover for a moment, shaking her head as she lunged to catch up.

"Usually about to die?" she questioned through controlled breathing.

"You did look about ready to kill me yesterday."

As much as she was loath to admit it: this boy was hard to stay mad at.

They ran together, keeping a fairly good pace between them, until they came up to the stream. Percy had been ready to make straight for the bridge, but Annabeth gripped his arm and pulled him against one of the elm trees on their side of the shore.

"They might have scouts," she whispered.

He nodded, still breathing a little heavy from their run across campus.

Annabeth was staring intently at the other edge, when Percy bent over, scooped one of the rocks surrounding the tree.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He didn't answer; he simply hurled the rock into the stream, causing a loud splash and ripples to erupt from the middle. Before Annabeth could protest anymore, he pulled her behind the tree, though they could still see the other edge.

Students came running out to the stream, talking loudly with each other.

"Did you see anyone?"

"No!"

"What the hell."

"Luke is going to kill us."

Luke? So he was the acting captain for the Apollo team. Annabeth wasn't sure how that worked, since he lived off campus, but he must have earned the right over his years.

"Now is the time we cross the bridge," Percy muttered, gesturing for her to move forward.

They left the scouts arguing behind them, tip-toing through the grass as fast as they could. The bridge wasn't exactly quiet, but the dispute must have been too loud in the participant's ears for them to notice their footsteps.

"If I were Apollo, where would I put my flag," Percy wondered in a whisper.

"You are an Apollo kid," Annabeth reminded him as they crept along.

"I've only been one for a few weeks. It doesn't count yet."

Rolling her eyes again, she pulled them into the shadow of Athena Hall as a group of kids passed. Dread fell into her gut when she noticed they were being led by Connor and Travis.

"They'll be going for the flag."

Percy nodded, though he kept his eyes on the retreating group. Annabeth felt like an idiot; she had given that little spiel, and now they were going to lose anyway. Plus, she wouldn't be surprised if one of those other underclassmen ratted her and Percy out to Zoe.

Lifting her head to the heavens and cursing under her breath, she tried to think. But her eyes caught something that made all thoughts halt.

"Percy," she shook his sleeve.

"Hey, I'm right here! You don't have to shout. Or stretch out my shirt for that matter. My mom gave me this," he mused to himself, frowning at her half-heartedly.

"Look!"

He followed where her finger was aimed, up to the rooftop of Apollo Hall. At the very corner, shivering in the night's breeze, was their bright yellow flag.

"Buildings are off limits!" Annabeth hissed, "That's cheating!"

"Technically, the flag is still outside. So they're just kind of cheating."

"But we can't go inside the building. So how do we get to the top?"

Percy regarded his residence hall for a moment, his teeth worrying the corner of his bottom lip.

"There's a fire escape outside my window," he mentioned, and Annabeth couldn't help the smile that came to her lips. They could still win!

"But it's pretty high off the ground. I'd have to give you a boost."

"Who said anything about me getting the boosting?"

"Would you rather give me a boost?" He asked, and he had her there, which he knew by the smirk that had spread on his lips. "Now do you want to win or not?"

That question didn't really need an answer. They both headed off across the way towards Apollo.

"They'll probably have guards," Annabeth whispered as they snuck around to the back side of the building.

"I'll handle them. They'll probably recognize me, and I don't think a lot of them know that me and the guys are on Artemis' team."

There were no Apollo team members below the fire escape, which was a little surprising. If she had been the captain, she definitely would have stationed people around the hall, hidden of course. Though, without a doubt, Annabeth was relieved they didn't have to deal with anyone, but suspicion still filled her as they drew closer.

"Alright, ready?" Percy asked, holding out clasped hands.

With only a nod in response, she slid her foot in his hands, wobbling a little bit as he lifted her. At first, she thought she had it. But in the dark, her depth perception was off, and she missed the bottom rung of the ladder, and fell forward a bit. She clutched at his hair, hoping to regain balance.

Percy hissed below her, his hands tightening on her foot.

"Sorry," she called down quietly.

"No problem," he groaned, making it sound like it really was a problem.

Even if she was going to feel bad about almost pulling his hair out, there was not time for that. Voices were drawing near from around the corner they had just come from.

"Hurry up!" Percy murmured below her.

With one more boost, her hand closed around the cold metal, and Annabeth dragged herself up just in time as the Apollo members rounded the corner.

"Who's there?"

"Just me," Percy answered, leaning casually against the brick wall. Behind his back, he motioned for Annabeth to keep going up. Not that she needed reminding. This was her first game of Capture the Flag on the line.

"Who's 'just me'?"

"He's a freshman. No worries man," Beckendorf's voice came in the dark. "One of mine."

"Well what's he doing over here? Isn't this a bit obvious?"

Luke's voice made Annabeth hesitate on her way up.

"I was just watching the perimeter, making sure the other team didn't send anyone over here."

"I told freshman to stick to the woods," Luke countered.

"I was worried about the flag," Percy was good. He didn't let anything show on his face.

Without waiting to hear the rest of the conversation, Annabeth snuck up the remaining stairs and lifted her leg over the edge of the roof. Apparently, Apollo had been confident in their hiding place, and hadn't placed anyone up here to watch it. There was no problem with that for her, she could just grab it and leave.

A triumphant grin leaked out as she pulled the flag into her grasp. She shouldn't have felt so victorious; they were still in enemy territory, and the Stolls could come running back with Artemis' flag at any moment. But it felt good to have the silky cloth in her hands.

Climbing up hadn't been too hard, but climbing down with the flag and attempting to be quiet would be more of a feat.

But Percy was still doing his part in distracting the other team.

"I like initiative," Luke was musing. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't, but it's Percy Jackson."

"Percy. Well, I'll have to remember you for the next game. There's a good chance it will be against Athena, and I plan on winning."

Annabeth could practically feel Percy's pride from ten feet above him.

_Come on, Seaweed Brain. Get rid of them!_

She was close to the bottom of the ladder now, but she didn't dare move more in case Beckendorf, or worse, Luke decided to look up.

"I heard there was a ruckus by the stream?"

"Yeah, some Artemis people may be across our lines. But that's not a big deal. We'll have the flag back here before they can do anything."

Luke might be right, if Percy didn't hurry up and make them leave.

"Really? Because I could have sworn I saw some people cross the bridge earlier."

"When?"

"I'm not sure."

Luke swore. "They're probably too late, but it won't hurt to ruin any progress before we win. Come on, Beck."

The upperclassmen left, and Percy let out a heaving breath, then craned his neck to see Annabeth. When he caught sight of the flag in her hand, he grinned.

"You got it!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you."

"Hey, I got you up there, and I'm about to get you down, so you better be thanking me."

He held up his hands, but Annabeth ignored them and jumped to land in front of him. Raising an eyebrow, he let one hand drop awkwardly to his side while the other slid through his hair.

"Shall we?" she smiled at him, holding out the flag for him to grab too. Maybe she should still have been mad at him. She had every right to be, but that wouldn't quite be fair to him. Besides, he had to bizarre talent of making her smile

His grin just grew as he held the flag with her, and they both sprinted back toward their side.

As they were rounding the corner of Apollo Hall, they nearly collided with another group of people. Both Percy and Annabeth attempted to hide the flag behind them, their minds flooding with excuses for the Apollo scouts, when Annabeth recognized a face.

"Thalia?"

"You guys got the flag! We were just coming to help, had to get past some scouts."

"We better not get in trouble for that," Jason commented, glancing over his shoulder back at the stream.

"It wasn't foul play," Piper assured him.

"At least of the physical type," Leo nudged Frank.

"Brilliant man!" Percy held up a hand and the boys high-fived.

"I'm missing something," Annabeth glanced up at Percy, noticing Piper's eyes focused on the flag between them.

"Frank can throw his voice. And he's great at impressions," Percy explained.

Frank's cheeks flushed, but his eyes stayed serious.

"We've got to get the flag back. We passed the Stolls as we ran over the border."

There were no Apollo members on the landscape as the group of them ran back, but as they neared the stream, the sliver flag of Artemis Hall was coming at them at breakneck speed, being pursued by the team of underclassmen from the parking lot.

"Shit," Percy muttered, legs moving faster and pulling Annabeth and the flag along for a moment until she could catch her footing again.

Shouts were echoing all around the stream, and teachers were beginning to come into view as people gathered around to see what all of the action was about.

"Go faster!"

"You can do it!"

"Oh my gods!"

"How did they-?"

Percy and ignored the bridge, which the Stolls were aiming for, and crashed straight into the water. Annabeth had no choice but to follow unless she wished to trip and fall, or worse, lose the flag, but she thought it unwise; the water would slow them down, no matter how shallow it was.

However, the water didn't seem to bother Percy at all, much less hinder his speed. While she was tripping and slipping on rocks left and right, he was pulling them through the current, and collapsing on the other side before she had any time to react to how cold her feet were now that her shoes were soaked.

Silence dropped like a bomb, with the shouts cutting off suddenly. Annabeth glanced up, and saw the Stolls on the other side, watching them as carefully as she was. Thalia and the others were still on the enemy side as well, staring at them with wide eyes.

Who had won?

Teachers were murmuring amongst themselves, while Chiron was studying the scene.

"Was it a tie?"

"You can't have ties in Capture the Flag."

"Are you sure? That looked damn close to me."

All talking ceased again when Chiron lifted the megaphone to his mouth.

"It is a hard call to make. Probably the closest one we've ever had to make," he glanced between the Stoll brothers standing at the edge of the bridge and Percy and Annabeth sprawled on the grass.

"But I am going to have to say-"

Now he was just drawing it out on purpose. Feeling the flag twitch, Annabeth looked down at the yellow flag to see Percy's fingers twisting it so tightly. When her eyes moved to his, he was staring at her, both of them seeing hope and slight panic there.

"-Team Artemis wins this game."

*A/N: I picked the first name George for Chiron because for Georges Dumezil, who did research on the myth of centaurs. It seems to fit Chiron pretty well, I think. Frank can't actually transform in this, since it's an AU, but I transferred that to impressions. And the variation of "I'm usually about to die" is obviously from the series, and not my own creation. Anyway, thanks for reading all!


	5. Anything is Possible with Pizza

"And then Percy was distracting the Apollo guys, acting the perfect double agent, while the little monkey Annabeth here-"

"Little monkey?"

"Was shimmying up the fire escape to get the flag! These two owned it! They have created a name for freshmen that will go down through the ages!"

Leo was still dramatizing the events of the game as they all sat around a corner table at Hestia's Café. Jason had insisted they all go out after the close-call win, without taking no for an answer, and they had all ended up here. The café had closed an hour ago, but Hestia, a small woman for her age who had a kind, warm smile, had allowed them to stay and finish their food. However, finishing their food was becoming more difficult as time went on, as there was more talking being done than eating.

"Yeah, we were all there Leo," Thalia rolled her eyes, shooting a smile in Annabeth's direction. "I'm not denying it was amazing. You just don't have to wear it out."

"That's what happens to legends though. You know, Hercules? That guy's story was worn out by the time the last person heard it."

"Legends? That's stretching it just a bit, Valdez."

"Are you sure? Because I don't think you two saw how epic you were."

Frank nodded, shrugging a shoulder in passive agreement.

Across the table, Percy was busy slurping up the last of his blueberry slushy he had picked up from the gas station right next to the café.

"_I'm not much one for coffee,"_ he had muttered, making a beeline for the slushy machine. Now, as he swallowed, he arched an eyebrow at the bouncing figure of Leo.

"We should never allow you to consume caffeine again."

Laughter made rounds around the table, making Hestia glance over them with a small, closed-lipped smile, as she returned to counting the money in the till.

"It's not the coffee that's got me like this man. It's our amazing victory!" he hooted, throwing fists in the air like he had when Chiron had made the announcement of the win.

_There was a moment of shock for both teams, and then all at once, the Apollo team began complaining while the Artemis ranks fell into wild cheers._

"_We won," Percy sighed, letting his head fall against the ground._

We won_, Annabeth agreed silently, her own head knocking the ground as her eyes fell shut. She tried to control her breathing after that sprint, but her excitement wasn't allowing that to happen. Not even the loud protests of the Apollo Team that would probably continue until the next game could dampen her spirits._

_When she opened her eyes, Percy was standing again, extending a hand down to her with a smirk on his face. She frowned up at him, but took his hand all the same._

"_Why the face? We're heroes!"_

"_That's a bit cocky, isn't it?"_

"_I wouldn't say so. It was our doing."_

"_Our doing?"_

"_If you say it was only your idea, I swear-"_

"_Don't worry about it. You helped," Annabeth teased, patting his shoulder._

"_Helped? I'd say that was a team effort," he said indignantly. "I'd also say we make a good team."_

_Before Annabeth could come up with a response to that, they were mobbed by the Artemis team, people all pounding them on the back, trying to hug them, shouting with delight at the two freshmen._

_Then Zoe Nightshade had appeared before the two of them, eyes hard._

"_You two were supposed to stay and guard the flag," she started, looking between the two of them. Then she cracked a smile. "But in this case, I'm glad you didn't."_

_A lot happened after that; more shouting, more hands slapping Annabeth's back in congratulations, and a lot of the Artemis team moving in one large blob, brandishing Apollo's gold flag above them. When someone had shouted for that a celebration would be happening at the Stoll's house, the team had begun to move out. _

That's when Jason had caught all of them, and now here they sat in Hestia's Café. Now, even though he was the one who had insisted, Jason let out a wide yawn and Piper gently nudged him in the ribs.

But Thalia nodded, the contagious yawn coming to her as well.

"I agree wholeheartedly, Jason," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

No one actually answered, as warm beverages, or in Percy's case, cold, were settling in their bellies and making their eyelids heavy. Annabeth noticed the clock behind the counter read 11:15, and felt her eyes widen.

"It's pretty late. We should get back to the dorms."

"Party-pooper," Percy grinned at her, biting the straw from his slushy.

"Well then what would you say we do?" she crossed her arms, watching him mutilate the poor plastic straw.

"I don't know," he shrugged gangly shoulders. "I'm not tired yet."

"Yeah, that's because Annabeth let you get a slushy," Frank teased, the first time Annabeth had seen him break his serious exterior that night.

"I let him? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Coffee is to Leo, as slushy is to Percy," Jason offered, smiling at his roommate who was still constantly moving even though he was still seated.

"What does that have to do with me? I didn't allow him to get one."

"You didn't say no either."

"Why is it my job to say no?"

"I don't know," Jason mirrored Percy's shrug. "Just teasing."

Now the laughter was a little hysterical. Then Thalia lifted her head, cheeks a little red from laughing.

"There's a theater that's open late! It serves pizza too!"

With the promise of pizza, it didn't take long before the group of them to bid their goodbyes and thank yous to Hestia and head back out into the night.

This was Annabeth's first time being "out as a college student". Luke had said there was a difference, between staying out late in high school and college, but Annabeth hadn't quite believed him. Now, with all of them giggling and huddling together against the night's autumn chill, she could see what he meant. The streetlights seemed to glow brighter, and the almost full moon looked bigger than it did at home.

Others who were older than them were sending them uneasy looks, like they were expecting the group of college students to do something illegal or disrespectful. Well, whatever they were expecting, they only got a group of laughing, exhausted teenagers, and one twenty year old.

"How far away is this theater?" Leo asked, his teeth chattering a little bit.

"Never mind that, why are you shivering! You're so warm!" Piper exclaimed, picking up his hand in the one that wasn't holding Jason's.

"I give off heat. I don't retain it for myself." He laughed a little, cuddling a little closer against Piper, making the three of them seem to transform into an awkward three-headed monster.

"Here it is!" Thalia shouted, not caring that it was so late. (Or so early. Now that it was past midnight, it was technically morning, but of course it didn't feel that way). She beckoned for them, grinning. Bags were beginning to appear underneath her eyes, but she didn't seem to care; she was still smiling broadly, even as the others following her had their own smiles droop.

"What is this?"

"A theater, blockhead," Thalia commented to Leo, who looked like a child who had just lost their favorite toy.

"I see that, but I was picturing more like a…" Leo might have finished his sentence, but he seemed to value his life, and the look Thalia was giving him was threatening it.

"A movie theater," Percy finished, apparently with a death wish. Annabeth glanced over at him a little worried.

_You're in for it, _she warned him silently. Apparently, he had a talent for getting on people's bad sides. (Though, a fact she tried to ignore, he also had a talent for getting back on the good side just as easily).

"Well, this is a little more cultured than a movie theater, isn't it, Jackson?"

The place was small, pretty concealed by the Xenos Hotel and the dance club Annabeth had heard other students rave about, TerpsiCHORE. The entrance had Greek style columns that would have been beautiful had they not obviously been made out of concrete rather than marble. There was an arch coming from each column that read in Greek style letters, Clio Live Theater. It looked a little out of place between the two modern buildings, but Annabeth still gave credit to whoever designed the doors; it was clever.

"Maybe, but when you said theater, I think we were all expecting…" Percy glanced around at the faces surrounding him, waiting for them to speak up along with him, but none of them did. Not even Annabeth, though her interest of seeing the inside of the theater was getting the best of her, and she could care less what the theater would actually be showing.

"The next show is about to start! So either you come or you don't," Thalia held the door open, sending a special glare just for Percy.

Walking inside, Annabeth wasn't much surprised that Thalia knew about this place, and she had never heard of it before. It was quite the underground location. The rows for the audience were made up of odd pieces of furniture that seemed to have come right out of the 1950s, and they were not even close to being filled. That might have been a good thing considering how small the auditorium was. As much as the outside had looked artsy and clever, the inside wasn't much for the eye. At first glance of the place, by all means it should have smelled musty and old, but what was wafting through the air was the glorious scent of-

"Pizza," Percy moaned.

"How can you still be hungry?" Annabeth asked, laughing at his dreamy expression.

"When it comes to pizza, anything is possible."

Thalia was finding a place to sit among the different pieces of furniture, and Annabeth might have followed her, but her stomach was growling something terrible.

Piper walked right up to the counter, muttering something about how hungry she was and "there better be a vegetarian option".

Annabeth's belly groaned again, and she heard a quick burst of laughter after it finished its longwinded speech about being ignored.

"And you were wondering how I was still hungry."

"Shut up, Jackson."

"I told you anything was possible with pizza."

"And I thought I told you to shut up."

"Does anybody else find it weird that their serving pizza at a Greek-themed theater? Pizza is Italian," Jason wondered, glancing over at his sister and back at the window where the food was being delivered to eager hands.

"Don't overthink it man," Percy offered, ordering a sausage and pepperoni pizza with a smile to the young cashier. She blushed a little bit, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You're going to give yourself heartburn."

"There's no need to insult my pizza. You're just hangry."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

Just as she said that, the lights in the house were dimmed, and the whole place went quiet. There was no curtain, but the lights above the stage lit up, and the actors were in place, all of them wearing black.

"Why do I think we're at the Rocky Horror Picture Show?" Percy whispered to Annabeth, making her snort, which she had to cover with her hand.

"Knowing Thalia," she left that open to interpretation.

The blushing cashier returned with Percy's order, and Annabeth stepped forward, but the cashier shook her head.

"Sorry. Pizza isn't served while the play is on."

There was a response on her lips and a frown on her forehead, but Annabeth wasn't allowed to say anything, for Percy interjected.

"That's alright. You're lucky I'm a nice guy. After you insulted my pizza like that, I shouldn't give you a piece. But I'll share." He left towards one of the horrid floral couches, leaving Annabeth no choice.

"I don't want any of your heartburn."

"You're stomach says otherwise."

He had a point. So Annabeth took a slice, satisfying her stomach's complaints.

The play was a bit odd, but she found herself enjoying it. There was humor, romance, even if the writing wasn't too great, but this wasn't exactly Broadway. Percy didn't share her sentiments, snorting and shaking his head every time the actors said a cheesy line.

"Give 'em a break."

"I'm not making fun of them," he said, though Annabeth didn't quite find herself believing him.

Once the play was over, they'd had to shake a sleeping Leo awake before they left, earning themselves glares from other audience members. The walk back to campus was much more subdued than the walk to the theater. Piper was leaning her head on Jason's arm as they walked, the two of them bringing up the rear. Leo and Frank were walking side by side, both of their eyes drooping. Thalia was leading the way, more awake than any of them, and Annabeth yet again found herself next to Percy, their strides matching.

"Are you tired yet?" she prodded, shoving her cold hands into her sweatshirt pockets.

"Yep. The slushy is completely out of my system," he smiled, though his face was upturned to the sky. "Though I'm not entirely sure that play is. If you could call it that."

"I heard that," Thalia said over her shoulder.

"I meant for you to."

"Play nice, children," Annabeth laughed.

The walk continued in silence, until Percy interrupted it, though his voice was much quieter, this time apparently not meaning for Thalia to hear him.

"So do you really think we don't know each other that well?"

At first, Annabeth wasn't sure what he was talking about, and then she remembered the game.

"_How do you two know each other?"_

"_We really don't."_

"Well, I wasn't lying, was I? We've known each other for what, a couple days? And those circumstances were…interesting."

She could have sworn he was blushing under the streetlight.

"I guess you're right," he shrugged again, his breath visible in the night air.

"Of course I am," she grinned up at him cheekily, and he rolled his eyes, stealing her signature move.

"But," he started, "are we friends?"

That question was a little out of the blue. She thought he might be joking again, but those damn green eyes were serious, searching and truly wondering. She didn't blame him. Like she said, their circumstance was interesting. Sure, they knew each other. But could they be considered friends?

"Maybe. I'll have to get you back on that."

He kept looking at her for a while longer, making her a slightly uncomfortable, but then he turned his face forward again.

"I'll take that. Just make sure you do. Get back to me."

The group was nearing Apollo and Artemis Hall, where even though it was quiet hours, parties could still be heard raging from open windows. Capture the Flag fever was still hanging around. Sleepy farewells were given, as they split off to their respective residence halls.

"G'night," Percy saluted her. "And congratulations on the win."

"You too," Annabeth shook her head. "And Percy? I will. Get back to you, I mean."

The boy's smile was too contagious for his own good, Annabeth thought to herself as she fell asleep that night, her own lips still configured into a smile for some reason.


End file.
